"It's kind of like the Spider-Man movie that came out recently."

By Joe Skrebels

Since its third series debuted on Netflix, Black Mirror creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones have seemingly become more and more interested in tying their episodes together, dropping references from one story into another - sometimes multiple others.

Interactive episode Bandersnatch is no different, with dozens of Easter Eggs littered across its many branches. I got the chance to chat to Brooker and Jones this week, and posed a question I’ve heard more and more recently: is there a Black Mirror Universe?

Instead, Brooker broadens that idea out a bit further: “We have a shared Black Mirror multiverse, is now what I'm saying, in which we can do whatever the bloody hell we feel like. It's kind of like the Spider-Man movie that came out recently, the Spider-Verse.”

Interestingly, that multiverse is already spreading beyond what we’ve seen - Brooker confirms to me that Bandersnatch not only contains references to past episodes, but future ones too - prepare to trawl back through those many choices when Season 5 arrives.

You can watch the full interview in the video above, or check out the transcription below, because Brooker and Jones are simply too charming and interesting to cut down for space.

IGN: A lot of people have been speculating about the idea of a BMU...

Brooker: A BMU? A bowel movement...

IGN: A Black Mirror Universe.

Brooker: Bowel movement... uncovered. A Black Mirror Universe. Well, you know what though? You see, what we've done there- because people often say, like Tuckersoft in this, 'is that the same company [as] TCKR in San Junipero?' Yes! I think it is – but also we're having our cake and eating it because, as Colin [Ritman, Bandersnatch character] says, within Bandersnatch there's many multiple realities going on at the same time. So we have a shared Black Mirror multiverse, is now what I'm saying, in which we can do whatever the bloody hell we feel like. It's kind of like the Spider-Man movie that came out recently, the Spider-Verse – which was excellent.

IGN: It is very good.

Brooker: It was very good, wasn't it?

Jones: [Whispering] Keep on message.

Brooker: Keep on message… [jokingly] But not as good as Bandersnatch!

Jones: So a BMM is what we're saying.

Brooker: A BMM. A bowel movement multiverse. Full of shit.

IGN: I wondered whether you expected such an outpouring of people collating ideas and wild theories about what they've noticed in connection to other episodes.

Brooker: Well we know, certainly by now, that people are keen to unearth Easter Eggs, so we sort of sprinkled them in there partly for a laugh, partly because sometimes it's easier than having to go out and clear the name of a fictional company. You just use one you've cleared before, so it's also lazy. We knew people would dig into it. I'm surprised that people sort of think there might be extra phone numbers – I've seen sort of conspiracy theories involving colours, the use of colours. People are going, 'that's a hidden code'. I wish we'd been that clever.

Jones: That's season 5.

Brooker: That's season 10!

Jones: It's always very rewarding and satisfying when people- often we are reusing things because they thematically make sense. So, you know, the White Bear glyph is so prevalent in the film and is a reference to an earlier episode where our protagonist was reliving a day then. So there's lots of things that just feel very fruitful.

Brooker: That was a nice 'a-ha' moment, because that was- in White Bear it's all to do with this control justice movement, and there was a moment where we were discussing this and we had drawn a little flow chart, and I suddenly noticed that there was the symbol from White Bear in the middle of it and it was like 'ooh! Ooh! Ooh!' I literally did that.

IGN: Before I'm wrapped up, one last question. Are there references in here to episodes we haven't seen yet?

Brooker: [coyly] Yes... There are.

IGN: That's very exciting. Well thank you very much for your time, guys.

Brooker: [Jokingly (I think)] I could have just said that and then I'll go off and write that episode...

Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK News Editor, and he hopes this just means Jeff Minter is in every episode from now on. Follow him on Twitter.